Honor Bound(16)

She was sprawled atop Lucas Greywolf.

Sometime during the night she had turned over, so that now her cheek was resting on his bare chest where his shirt had fallen open. Her breasts were flattened against his stomach and her hips… "Oh, Lord." She repeated her plea to heaven because the cleft of her thighs was cuddling his manhood.

And it was very hard.

Cheeks flaming, she pushed herself up and scrambled to the other side of the back seat. "I'm sorry," she stammered, keeping her face averted.

"So am I," he grated, as he opened the door on his side and practically fell out. For a long while, he just stood there by the side of the car. Aislinn didn't dare ask what the matter was. She knew.

After several minutes, he walked to the front of the car and raised the hood. He fiddled with something beneath it, then came back to crouch down inside the open car door. "Take off your bra."

If he had said, "Sprout wings and fly," she couldn't have been more astounded. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. Either that or your blouse. But hurry up. We've lost enough time."

It was well past dawn, and her blush deepened when she realized how soundly they had both slept. Of course yesterday had been an exhausting day and—

"Either you take it off or I do," he interrupted her thoughts brusquely.

"Turn around."

"Oh for…" He turned around. Hastily she peeled off her shirt, took off her bra, then pulled the shirt back on, buttoning it quickly.

"Here." She thrust the garment at him. He took it without a word and carried it back with him to the front of the car. After several minutes of sweat-breaking work and elaborate cursing, he slammed the hood and got into the driver's seat, wiping his hands on the legs of his jeans. All he said by way of explanation was, "That might hold it for a while."

But not nearly long enough. They had driven only twenty miles or so when threads of white smoke began ghosting from beneath the hood. Then it began to billow.

"You'd better stop before the car blows up," Aislinn suggested tentatively. They hadn't spoken a word since starting out. If he was as shaken as she by the position in which they had found themselves upon waking, then she could understand his reticence.

She kept remembering things she wished she could physically blot from her mind, like how his chest hair had felt warm and fuzzy and fine against her lips. And how his hands had been cupping and caressing her derriere before she was fully awake. And how good she had felt moments before realization stunned her into consciousness.

His remote features gave away none of what he was thinking as he pulled the car off the road again. It wheezed to a stop. "Well, that bra did no more good there than it did keeping your nipples from showing."

She gaped at him in shock, but he merely opened his door and stepped out. "Come on."

"Come on where?"

"To the nearest town."

"You mean we're going to walk?" she asked incredulously. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rugged terrain on all sides. In the distance was the purple silhouette of mountains. Between here and there was nothing but rock-strewn ground, the callused palm of Mother Nature, unrelieved except for the gray swath of the highway.

"Until someone stops to pick us up," he said in answer to her question. He struck off. Aislinn had no choice but to leave the car and trot along behind him until she caught up.

She wasn't about to stay there alone. He might not come back for her, and it looked as though it could be days before another car came along. She was already thirsty and hadn't helped that by eating a few cookies out of the provisions Greywolf had taken from her kitchen.

They walked for what seemed like hours. She had to virtually jog to keep pace with him. The sun beat down unmercifully on her uncovered head. The terrain was fit only for Gila monsters and other reptilian creatures that occasionally slithered across their path.

Finally they heard the chugging sound of an approaching vehicle and turned to see a pickup truck coming from behind them. It looked like a faded red specter materializing out of the shimmering heat waves. Before Greywolf even raised his arms and waved, the driver was downshifting. Three stoic Navaho men sat shoulder to shoulder in the cab of the ancient pickup. After conversing with them briefly, Greywolf hauled Aislinn into the back of it with him.

"Did they recognize you?"

"Probably."

"Aren't you afraid they'll turn you in?"

His head swung around and, despite the heat, she shivered against the cold glance he sent her. "No."

"Oh, I see. They're honor bound to keep their silence."

He didn't even bother to reply, but turned his eyes toward the northeastern horizon, where she had already deduced they were headed.

They maintained a hostile silence for the length of the ride into a small, dusty town. Conversation would have been difficult anyway. The hot wind pounded her and sucked the breath out of her lungs.

While they were still on the outskirts of the town, Greywolf knocked on the rear windshield of the pickup and the driver downshifted to a halt in front of a service station. Greywolf jumped to the ground and assisted Aislinn down. "Much obliged," he called to the driver, who doffed his straw cowboy hat to them before reengaging the gears of the truck and driving off.